Collaboration: whatgrandmawore and whatsaroxy

This post is the third in a collaborative project with Netherlands-based artist Roxy van Bemmel (@whatsaroxy). This scheme sees Bemmel interpret garments from museum collections through a contemporary and abstract eye. Historical context about the piece chosen for analysis is provided by whatgrandmawore. Painting of a woman with a 19th century evening dress from the …

Collaboration: whatgrandmawore & whatsaroxy

This post is the second in a collaboration with whatgrandmawore and artist Roxy Van Bemmel, a project which sees Roxy visually interpret historical garments from online museum collections, whilst adding her own abstract and modern approach to object observation. Roxy van Bemmel painting of an 1818 evening dress from the Victoria and Albert Museum collection, …

Collaboration with whatgrandmawore and whatsaroxy: Fashion Illustration

This post is one of many in a collaboration with whatgrandmawore and artist Roxy Van Bemmel. It focuses on the interpretation of historical garments and textiles in an illustrated form, from a modern, abstract, and creative perspective. Roxy van Bemmel painting of an 1826 dress belonging to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2019). All …

Like Mother Like Daughter: Jeanne Lanvin and Gazette du Bon Ton from 1920-1925

Jeanne Lanvin was a prolific French couturier who enjoyed several decades of success during the twentieth century. First training as a milliner during the late 19th century and subsequently opening her own business in 1889, Lanvin eventually joined the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in 1909. She ran a highly successful fashion house for many years, …

Big, Small, Short and Long: A Brief History of Fashionable Silhouettes

'Fashion consists only in extremes [...] frivolity and death.' 'Does fashion die [...] because it can no longer keep up the tempo?' Walter Benjamin - The Arcades Project The fashion system relies on a never-ending cycle of newness, spectacle, emulation and death. This is how fashion works - without the invention of new, or the recycling …

Fashion Dolls: Pandoras to Barbies

The doll is frequently discussed within the context of childhood. Rarely do we regard the doll as anything outside of this realm. As an owner of many dolls myself, reference to the doll often leads to the reminiscence of my younger self playing with many of these toys, such as the Baby Born, who allowed …